Metalworking industry successful at delivering high-end products

TheCopenhagenPost    April 21st, 2015

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Only pharmaceutical industry adds more value to its products

Some 46 percent of Denmark’s metal exports are so-called upmarket products (photo: iStock)

Berlingske Business reports that the Danish metalwork industry is doing better than expected thanks to the high standards of international customers.

The consultancy firm Damvad found that the metal industry’s products were sold for much higher prices than international averages, with only the pharmaceutical industry in Denmark adding more value to its products.

Jan Ditlevsen, the operations manager of ITW Construction Products, which has production facilities in Middelfart in Funen, told Berlingske that Danish companies have strong knowledge of metallurgy, while a weaker euro and a shorter reaction time to the European market than Chinese rivals also make them competitive.

Upmarket products
Allan Lyngsøe Madsen, the chief economist at the metalworking union Dansk Metal, explained that Danish companies did well at meeting demanding requirements.

“Many people think that the metal industry just produces primitive products,” he said.

“But properties like durability, quality and on-time delivery characterise the Danish subcontractors within the metal industry, which are doing well on the global stage.”

According to Damvad’s survey, 46 percent of Denmark’s metal exports are so-called upmarket products, which for four years in a row have commanded a price 15 percent higher than the market average.